“Live simply so others may simply live.” Elizabeth Ann Seton

Today the temperature broke a little. It was still warm and very humid, but we had some cloud cover for a lot of the day. Today we sent a group back up to work on the ramp and the stairs and then started two new sites. At one site we worked in a trailer that still had not had any work done since the flood so we cut out the damaged drywall, about 4 feet up, tore out the insulation and replaced both. Since we had a good size group we broke into two groups and were able to make progress in two rooms.

Another new site we worked on was painting inside a women’s trailer and power-washing the outside. Her trailer is 40 years old, but looks immaculate on the inside.

Camps continued today and we are happy to report a 300% increase as we had three kids for both camps. Between the local kids and the PV kids (not to mention the big PV kids) it seems that everyone was having fun.

For dinner tonight we were treated to an Indian feast with chicken, curry and rice. It was delicious. For dessert we had cake and homemade ice cream to celebrate one of our summer longs birthdays, Happy Birthday!

Reflection tonight focused on opportunities. We were asked to reflect on an opportunity which may have seemed small to begin with, but really became life changing.

“Live simply so others may simply live.” Elizabeth Ann Seton

Today the temperature broke a little. It was still warm and very humid, but we had some cloud cover for a lot of the day. Today we sent a group back up to work on the ramp and the stairs and then started two new sites. At one site we worked in a trailer that still had not had any work done since the flood so we cut out the damaged drywall, about 4 feet up, tore out the insulation and replaced both. Since we had a good size group we broke into two groups and were able to make progress in two rooms.

Another new site we worked on was painting inside a women’s trailer and power-washing the outside. Her trailer is 40 years old, but looks immaculate on the inside.

Camps continued today and we are happy to report a 300% increase as we had three kids for both camps. Between the local kids and the PV kids (not to mention the big PV kids) it seems that everyone was having fun.

For dinner tonight we were treated to an Indian feast with chicken, curry and rice. It was delicious. For dessert we had cake and homemade ice cream to celebrate one of our summer longs birthdays, Happy Birthday!

Reflection tonight focused on opportunities. We were asked to reflect on an opportunity which may have seemed small to begin with, but really became life changing.

“Live simply so others may simply live.” Elizabeth Ann Seton

Today the temperature broke a little. It was still warm and very humid, but we had some cloud cover for a lot of the day. Today we sent a group back up to work on the ramp and the stairs and then started two new sites. At one site we worked in a trailer that still had not had any work done since the flood so we cut out the damaged drywall, about 4 feet up, tore out the insulation and replaced both. Since we had a good size group we broke into two groups and were able to make progress in two rooms.

Another new site we worked on was painting inside a women’s trailer and power-washing the outside. Her trailer is 40 years old, but looks immaculate on the inside.

Camps continued today and we are happy to report a 300% increase as we had three kids for both camps. Between the local kids and the PV kids (not to mention the big PV kids) it seems that everyone was having fun.

For dinner tonight we were treated to an Indian feast with chicken, curry and rice. It was delicious. For dessert we had cake and homemade ice cream to celebrate one of our summer longs birthdays, Happy Birthday!

Reflection tonight focused on opportunities. We were asked to reflect on an opportunity which may have seemed small to begin with, but really became life changing.

“Act without doing; work without effort. Think of the small as large and the few as many. Confront the difficult while it is still easy; accomplish the great task by a series of small acts.” Tao Te Ching

We awoke this morning still with only partial power in the building. Some rooms still had no lights, some had no air conditioning, some had partial lights, air conditioning, etc., the internet was still down and the phones were still down. As we headed out to jobsites, many of whom where in the Hanover area we weren’t sure if there would be power at the sites. Sure enough at the the three home repair sites in Hanover there was no power. One site did all they could until the cordless drills died, another site did not need electricity so they went about their work in the dark and the third house painted by kerosene lantern. You got to love the flexibility and adaptability of the PVs!

Another group took the long drive to Mullens to continue work at The Way youth center, this time working alongside a group from Tampa. The group continued drywalling and tiling and were joined by the group who ran out of power on their drills. There were a lot of people working and a lot getting accomplished.

It was also day two of our camps and unfortunately due to the power outage we had no kids show up. We say kids later in the day and they said they just assumed there would be no camp since there was no electricity. We are looking forward to tomorrow’s camp.

For dinner tonight we were treated to Brazilian Chicken, beans and rice as well as cooked carrots that were all delicious. For dessert, a special treat of jello and cool whip : )

Reflection tonight focused on our challenges and triumphs of the day as well as reflecting on what virtues to we strive for that we encounter during our time as PVs.

“Act without doing; work without effort. Think of the small as large and the few as many. Confront the difficult while it is still easy; accomplish the great task by a series of small acts.” Tao Te Ching

We awoke this morning still with only partial power in the building. Some rooms still had no lights, some had no air conditioning, some had partial lights, air conditioning, etc., the internet was still down and the phones were still down. As we headed out to jobsites, many of whom where in the Hanover area we weren’t sure if there would be power at the sites. Sure enough at the the three home repair sites in Hanover there was no power. One site did all they could until the cordless drills died, another site did not need electricity so they went about their work in the dark and the third house painted by kerosene lantern. You got to love the flexibility and adaptability of the PVs!

Another group took the long drive to Mullens to continue work at The Way youth center, this time working alongside a group from Tampa. The group continued drywalling and tiling and were joined by the group who ran out of power on their drills. There were a lot of people working and a lot getting accomplished.

It was also day two of our camps and unfortunately due to the power outage we had no kids show up. We say kids later in the day and they said they just assumed there would be no camp since there was no electricity. We are looking forward to tomorrow’s camp.

For dinner tonight we were treated to Brazilian Chicken, beans and rice as well as cooked carrots that were all delicious. For dessert, a special treat of jello and cool whip : )

Reflection tonight focused on our challenges and triumphs of the day as well as reflecting on what virtues to we strive for that we encounter during our time as PVs.

“Act without doing; work without effort. Think of the small as large and the few as many. Confront the difficult while it is still easy; accomplish the great task by a series of small acts.” Tao Te Ching

We awoke this morning still with only partial power in the building. Some rooms still had no lights, some had no air conditioning, some had partial lights, air conditioning, etc., the internet was still down and the phones were still down. As we headed out to jobsites, many of whom where in the Hanover area we weren’t sure if there would be power at the sites. Sure enough at the the three home repair sites in Hanover there was no power. One site did all they could until the cordless drills died, another site did not need electricity so they went about their work in the dark and the third house painted by kerosene lantern. You got to love the flexibility and adaptability of the PVs!

Another group took the long drive to Mullens to continue work at The Way youth center, this time working alongside a group from Tampa. The group continued drywalling and tiling and were joined by the group who ran out of power on their drills. There were a lot of people working and a lot getting accomplished.

It was also day two of our camps and unfortunately due to the power outage we had no kids show up. We say kids later in the day and they said they just assumed there would be no camp since there was no electricity. We are looking forward to tomorrow’s camp.

For dinner tonight we were treated to Brazilian Chicken, beans and rice as well as cooked carrots that were all delicious. For dessert, a special treat of jello and cool whip : )

Reflection tonight focused on our challenges and triumphs of the day as well as reflecting on what virtues to we strive for that we encounter during our time as PVs.

“Don’t wait for something big to occur. Start where you are, with what you have, and that will always lead you into something greater.” Mary Manin Morrissey

Today was a very hot day, with highs in the upper 90’s. The day finished off with a tremendous thunder, lightening and wind storm that caused our power to go out and partially remain out over night into the next morning. We are realizing that power outages occur quite a bit on this end of the county as this is the third time we have lost power in three and half weeks.

The sites were able to get quite a bit done, despite the heat. Work continued on the the ramp and the neighbors house. We also started painting at the other neighbors house, one that we worked on during the spring break trips. So much has been done in that house in the last few months and it is really coming together and looking beautiful.

Besides the three sites working next to each other, another group headed out to
Mullens to continue painting the floor and getting the Itmann Food Bank ready for distribution.

The final two sites were our first camps that we are having in the Hanover area, soccer and craft. Having never done a camp out here and not having a lot of connections yet to people in the area, we were not quite sure what to expect as far as numbers. We ended up with one enthusiastic camper (in addition to the PV campers) and promises of several more to join us tomorrow.

The day was topped off with a delicious meal of baked ziti, spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread and salad. And to top if off, homemade chocolate chip cookies. Very satisfying after a hard days work : )

Just as we were gathering for reflection, the power started flickering and then partially came back on, so we continued. We listened to a wonderful song about changing the world and went around a shared a “new and good” from the day.

“Don’t wait for something big to occur. Start where you are, with what you have, and that will always lead you into something greater.” Mary Manin Morrissey

Today was a very hot day, with highs in the upper 90’s. The day finished off with a tremendous thunder, lightening and wind storm that caused our power to go out and partially remain out over night into the next morning. We are realizing that power outages occur quite a bit on this end of the county as this is the third time we have lost power in three and half weeks.

The sites were able to get quite a bit done, despite the heat. Work continued on the the ramp and the neighbors house. We also started painting at the other neighbors house, one that we worked on during the spring break trips. So much has been done in that house in the last few months and it is really coming together and looking beautiful.

Besides the three sites working next to each other, another group headed out to
Mullens to continue painting the floor and getting the Itmann Food Bank ready for distribution.

The final two sites were our first camps that we are having in the Hanover area, soccer and craft. Having never done a camp out here and not having a lot of connections yet to people in the area, we were not quite sure what to expect as far as numbers. We ended up with one enthusiastic camper (in addition to the PV campers) and promises of several more to join us tomorrow.

The day was topped off with a delicious meal of baked ziti, spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread and salad. And to top if off, homemade chocolate chip cookies. Very satisfying after a hard days work : )

Just as we were gathering for reflection, the power started flickering and then partially came back on, so we continued. We listened to a wonderful song about changing the world and went around a shared a “new and good” from the day.

“Don’t wait for something big to occur. Start where you are, with what you have, and that will always lead you into something greater.” Mary Manin Morrissey

Today was a very hot day, with highs in the upper 90’s. The day finished off with a tremendous thunder, lightening and wind storm that caused our power to go out and partially remain out over night into the next morning. We are realizing that power outages occur quite a bit on this end of the county as this is the third time we have lost power in three and half weeks.

The sites were able to get quite a bit done, despite the heat. Work continued on the the ramp and the neighbors house. We also started painting at the other neighbors house, one that we worked on during the spring break trips. So much has been done in that house in the last few months and it is really coming together and looking beautiful.

Besides the three sites working next to each other, another group headed out to
Mullens to continue painting the floor and getting the Itmann Food Bank ready for distribution.

The final two sites were our first camps that we are having in the Hanover area, soccer and craft. Having never done a camp out here and not having a lot of connections yet to people in the area, we were not quite sure what to expect as far as numbers. We ended up with one enthusiastic camper (in addition to the PV campers) and promises of several more to join us tomorrow.

The day was topped off with a delicious meal of baked ziti, spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread and salad. And to top if off, homemade chocolate chip cookies. Very satisfying after a hard days work : )

Just as we were gathering for reflection, the power started flickering and then partially came back on, so we continued. We listened to a wonderful song about changing the world and went around a shared a “new and good” from the day.

Another week begins…. After the long drive to Mass in Pineville and grabbing a quick lunch, we all gathered together for our community day activities, a fun day of activities were planned! We started with a name game just to try and get everyone’s name down before the week even began. After that we moved into a series of competitions in the style of “Minute to Win It.” While we had a lot of fun, lets say the competition was rather fierce between the six teams.

After all the games were done, we met up with the brand new PVs for an orientation session before dinner began. Dinner, was our usual Sunday menu of hamburgers, veggie burgers, beans, corn on the cob and many different salads. It was delish!

After dinner we gathered together everyone who arrived during the weekend for a reorientation and to catch them up to speed with changes in the program. We wrapped up the evening with the PV Commissioning Service to prepare ourselves as we head out for another week of service, community and reflection.